Billy Joel - The Stranger (30th Anniversary)

Billy Joel's The Stranger arrives as a 30th Anniversary Edition on 180-gram vinyl, the 1977 album that turned a road-tested piano man into a star.

Joel had been grinding through records and tours for years when he began working with producer Phil Ramone, who had the smart idea of recording him with his own touring band rather than hired session players. That decision gave the songs a lived-in swagger, the sound of musicians who knew each other's moves and weren't afraid to push.

It shows from the first bars. "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" skewers the rat race with a grin, and "Just the Way You Are" glides along on mellow electric piano and a saxophone solo built for slow dances. "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" plays like a short film, starting with a wine order before sprawling into the saga of Brenda and Eddie, the high-school sweethearts whose story unravels once real life arrives.

Then "Only the Good Die Young" kicks up its heels with a cheeky, rollicking bounce.

Decades later these songs still fill bars, weddings and car stereos, and the album plays beautifully from start to finish on a heavyweight pressing. For anyone who has ever belted out the Brenda and Eddie saga at closing time, this is the copy to own.